Obese parents may affect the problem-solving and social capabilities of their babies.
A new study discovers even stronger connection between parents and their newborns. Their relationship is deeper than previously thought. The new findings discovered that obese parents might cause their babies to go through developmental delays.
The study was conducted by a team of scientists at the National Institutes of Health and appeared in the Pediatrics publication. One of the authors, Edwina Yeung, who is an investigator at the Intramural Population Health Research, recognizes the study as the first of its kind. Previous papers focused only on the weight of the mothers and how it evolves from the pre- to the post-pregnancy period. However, this new study took the weight of the fathers into consideration for the first time. The results showed a close connection between the weight of both parents and the development of the baby.
Dr. Yeung and her team of researchers found out on this occasion that there is 1 in 5 women who is overweight in the U.S. This study was actually based on the data registered by the Upstate Kids study. This paper pursued to discover if fertility treatments have any impact on child development through age three. There were around 5,000 women who participated in this study four months after they delivered their babies. The study recorded data from 2008 to 2010.
The newborns were tested at the age of four months. The tests were repeated for six times before the age of three. Parents also provided information about the weight for both mothers and fathers among other health related details.The results of this series of tests revealed a difference between children of overweight parents and the others.
Three-year-old babies of overweight mothers were 70% more prone to fail the test of fine motor skills than their peers of normal weight mothers. On the other hand, babies of obese fathers were 75% more likely to fail at an intersocial test. This test assesses the baby’s abilities to socialize with their peers. As for children with obese parents, they displayed signs of being three times less capable of taking the problem-solving tests by the age of three.
It is not yet known why obese parents affect the development of their newborns. Other studies on animals reveal that obese mothers are more prone to inflammation. This side effect can lead to fetal brain affections.
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